ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD

The Dunker Church was built in 1852 on land donated by Samuel Mumma. Many of the church's members are buried at the nearby Mumma Cemetery, also part of the Mumma farm. The church was officially dedicated in 1853. The Dunker Church played an important role in the Battle of Antietam in 1862. The battle was fought all around the church, and the Confederate Army used it as a medical station to help wounded soldiers. It's also believed that the Union Army used it as an embalming station after the battle. The Church sustained heavy damage from bullets and artillery shells, but was repaired and rededicated by 1864. Regular services were held at the church until the turn of the nineteenth-century when a new church was built in town and the old one was no longer used. The old church wasn't maintained, and tourists often took bricks from it as souvenirs. Because of this, the church wasn't very structurally sound. In 1921 a large storm passed through and completely destroyed the church. In 1951 the Washington County Historical Society purchased the property and donated it to he National Park Service. In 1960, the State of Maryland gave the National Park Service $35,000 to rebuild the church on the original site. Many of the materials used to reconstruct it are originals, including approximately 3,000 bricks, benches, flooring, and some window and door frames.